News, commentary and analysis by leaders of the Communist Party USA in New York State. We discuss State politics and issues in New York City, covering developments in labor, civil rights education, housing and more.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Housing in New York City is certainly in crisis. Working people find it harder and harder to live because of the cost of living, in particular, skyrocketing rents. Even the bastions of affordable housing in the city, such as Stuyvesant Town/Cooper Village and Starrett City are threatened.

A recent article on developments with Starrett City from the People's Weekly World newspaper notes that,

"Elected officials agree that raising the Starrett units to market rate would further worsen the current affordable-housing crunch in New York City. Of the more than 1.5 million New Yorkers living in poverty, less than a third currently have access to housing deemed “affordable” by the New York City Housing Authority.

'In New York City, the most basic of needs — a place to live — has become too expensive for the middle class and those struggling to make it,' said Rep. Weiner. Legislation now being considered in Albany and Washington would protect present and future tenants in future sales of Mitchell-Lama housing.

Starrett City is just a symptom of what is happening all over New York City. East Side, West Side, all around the town, it’s the same story. Landlords, especially large corporations, are pushing tenants out either by outright purchase of buildings or by just whittling away at the governor/mayor-appointed rent guidelines board, which has just passed another 5.25 and 7.25 percent increase for one- and two-year leases on rent-stabilized apartments."

For more information on the struggle to defend affordable housing at Starrett City, visit the following websites: